iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 17h

the eighties corporate training soundtrack makes the straight-faced people even more deranged (complementary)

150

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 18h

this was just 3 posts lower in my feed: bsky.app/profile/kott...

180

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 06/10/2026

I attended a seminar by freshly minted Nobel Laureate Francis Halzen many years ago and something he said stuck with me, but it takes some explaining, so this will be a (short) thread. The talk was about neutrino telescopes, and he started by explaining how rarely neutrinos interact with anything.

638481

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Happy “Evidence that there are things outside the Milky Way” Day to all who celebrate. 🧪 🔭

25010

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

Elizabeth Anne, PhD @lacksauthority.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

never the wrong time for this classic

Screenshot of a tweet by @RobbtKraft reading “scientist: "does everyone here know what Watson and Crick discovered?"
me from back of room: "Rosalind Franklin's notes"”

56119133531

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 02/10/2026

🔭 The Complete Sharpless Catalog: 313 Nebulas Credit: Bing Xin ap261002

313 separate images of nebulae that resemble a variety of shapes and brightnesses. Some are dim and whispy, others are bright and create structure. Each image traces the complex behavior of interstellar gas.

111934

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

To expand on this: Bigotry isn't a result of an innocent misunderstanding, or not having all the facts. It's not a choice made rationally, defeated with a rational argument. Bigotry is a self-protective, foundational belief used to help make the world make sense to them. Debate won't change that.

31982570

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

it did not take long for photo to turn into capital-A art though, now did it. this was short-lived criticism. shorter than the "are video games art" thing happening now.

210

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

...and that's what he's remembered for, and still widely read - Sherlock fucking Holmes - and not his aspirations to literature. right? so he's the inverse of the post - his mid stuff paid the bills and is art and is long-remembered. his "lit" is forgotten. (this is an attempt at a yes-and post)

030

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

MurderBotBot @murderbotbot.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Well, shit.

05814

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

taenia @taenia.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Goooooood morning, pika fans It's September, and you know what that means! That's right, we are Making Hay, we are Perching On Rocks, we are Squeaking

An American Pika carrying a branch across rocky terrain

This is a small brown mammal that looks like an extremely cute cross between a rabbit and a mouse. It has short, round ears, large dark eyes and long whiskers.

Am American Pika crouched on a rock at a 3/4 view towards the camera

This is a small brown mammal that looks like an extremely cute cross between a rabbit and a mouse. It has short, round ears, large dark eyes and long whiskers.

An American Pika with a mouth full of dried vegetation sitting on a rock

This is a small brown mammal that looks like an extremely cute cross between a rabbit and a mouse. It has short, round ears, large dark eyes and long whiskers.

An American Pika perched on a rock and calling

This is a small brown mammal that looks like an extremely cute cross between a rabbit and a mouse. It has short, round ears, large dark eyes and long whiskers.

5339109

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

the Blade Runner and Fifth Element visual cues are striking!

011

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Excellent. I hope you took this as a yes-and, and I know you do updates to your newsletters all the time. great work!

000

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

lemme know if you need a copy of the Schaefer paper. they essentially verify he did indeed recover Comet Halley in 1985 when it was M19.6 (!) in a 24". there should be a paper for that too somewhere.

210

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

a few searches brings up several references. I'd expect you could probably email him and write a whole newsletter about it, now that I think about it. remarkable story! There's also a whole paper confirming his magic eyes (Schaefer 1989)

000

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

hey Phil - one correction about "no one seeing the spokes until Voyager" - Stephen O'Meara famously saw them visually and no one believed him until Voyager.

2110

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Brilliant mathematician Emmy Noether was initially barred from teaching at University of Göttingen because she was a woman. She taught for 4 years as a "guest lecturer" under David Hilbert's name. Hilbert, exasperated at the stupidity of the rule: "Gentlemen, this is not a bathing establishment."

artsci.tamu.edu

From Algebra to Airplane Crashes, Emmy Noether’s Lasting Influence on Mathematics

Emmy Noether, whom some consider the “Mother of Modern Mathematics,” continues to shape modern research and the studies of mathematicians today; including research into the investigation of airplane c...

161302512

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

IDSYDHT (I Did So You Don’t Have To) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TESCREAL

en.wikipedia.org

TESCREAL - Wikipedia

010

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

Ed Yong is offline @edyong209.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Briefly popping my head back in to unveil the cover of my upcoming book, LIFE BEYOND MEASURE: Nature's Hidden Wonders at Every Scale. It’ll be out on April 6 in the U.S. and April 29 in the U.K. and you can pre-order it right now! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/757705... 1/

A book cover featuring a beautiful closely cropped portrait of an Anna's hummingbird. The cover says LIFE BEYOND MEASURE: Nature's Hidden Wonders at Every Scale, by Ed Yong. The image also says US: 4/06/27 and UK: 4/29/27

271621360

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

Chris Bianchi @bianchiweather.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I'd recommend a rain jacket if you're going to Red Rocks/Rockies/Rapids...or any other Denver area outdoor activities tonight that start with an R. Or any letter. #COwx

5455

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

The Denver Post @denverpost.com · 16/09/2026

Interstate 70 will have multiday closures in west metro Denver this weekend and next for bridge repairs that will require detours for drivers, the Colorado Department of Transportation says.

denverpost.com

I-70 will close in west metro Denver over the next two weekends. Here’s what you should know.

121

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

HH111 - From Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.bsky.social) - flic.kr/p/2hq4u9m

Took a quick break from some other work to process these lovely near-infrared observations of HH111 into a color image. The jets are well hidden from view in visible light, only just peeking out at one end. Here, many details are revealed, but the stars themselves remain veiled. Herbig-Haro objects are comprised of matter ejected rapidly from the poles of young, actively accreting stellar objects. Sometimes they are isolated puffs of cloud, but this time they are narrow, almost continuous streams. In this case it is probable that a multi-star system is forming: hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2000/news-2000-05.html

Orange: WFC3/IR F167N + WFC3/IR F164N
Cyan: WFC3/IR F130N + WFC3/IR F126N

North is 40° counter-clockwise from up.

114034

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Barnard's Galaxy Deep Field - 29.5 Hours - From Rolf Wahl Olsen - flic.kr/p/23av3gA

This image shows a deep view of Barnard's Galaxy (NGC 6822), an irregular dwarf galaxy that is one of the nearest neighbours to our Milky Way. This galaxy was discovered by astronomer Edward E. Barnard in 1884 and is located about 1.6 million light years away in the constellation Sagittarius. Despite boasting a meagre 10 million stars, and extending only one tenth the size of our Milky Way, NGC 6822 contains a full menagerie of hot red star forming HII regions, planetary nebulae, bright OB associations and dark clouds.

In 1925 the famous astronomer Edwin Hubble published his paper 'N.G.C. 6822, A Remote Stellar System' which was a detailed survey of this galaxy. Apart from describing five of its brightest HII regions Hubble also discovered 11 Cehepid variables in NGC 6822. This was one of the most important discoveries in galactic astronomy and enabled NGC 6822 to be the first galaxy beyond the Magellanic Clouds to have its distance measured and in turn greatly expanded the size of the known Universe at the time.

NGC 6822 is a challenging galaxy to photograph since it has a very low surface brightness. But still many of its brightest stars are resolved together with the various star forming regions and blue OB associations.

Also visible throughout this image is a thin veil of wispy filaments, similar to high altitude fair weather clouds. These ghostly structures are now known as galactic cirrus, or Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN). Only a few decades ago such structures ...

011028

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

Astrobites @astrobites.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

From Ben Sherwin: The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has found a new ultra-faint dwarf galaxy in our galactic backyard just by using preview data, taken before its 10-year survey! ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪 astrobites.org/2026/09/08/rubin-first-ultrafaint-dwarf/

astrobites.org

An Early Discovery by Rubin Observatory!

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has found a new ultra-faint dwarf galaxy in our galactic backyard just by using preview data, taken before its 10-year survey!

0235

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Cc: @weirdguita.rs ! Lookit that beautiful instrument she’s shredding!

110

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

oh, these guys. EVs are very much the easiest way to get a vehicle on the road, and yet! cars are still hard. they even are/were trying the ol' it's not-a-car-it-has-3-wheels schtick and still couldn't get it out the door.

000

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Aptera the weird bubble car company?

100

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

Ward Q. Normal (he/him) @wardqnormal.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Did Hasan Piker storm the Capital? Did he start an unnecessary, reckless war in Iran? Is he killing and kidnapping people in the streets? Did he tear down the East Wing? Has he destroyed universities and eroded confidence in science & public health? No? Then why the fuck should I care about him?

518754

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

RIGHT? law of large numbers and so on

000

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

“Without a doubt in my mind, her funding made the research toward the vaccine go 10 times faster than it would be without it.” You should take a minute to read the story of how Dolly ended up supporting the development of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine.

washingtonpost.com

Dolly Parton helped fund Moderna’s vaccine. It began with a car crash and an unlikely friendship.

“Without a doubt in my mind, her funding made the research toward the vaccine go 10 times faster than it would be without it,” physician Naji Abumrad said of his friend.

28113

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 25/08/2026

Dolly Parton's family asked that, in lieu of flowers, fans make a donation to the singer's Imagination Library. Here's what the charity does ⬇️ www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

rollingstone.com

Turning Pages: Inside Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Core team of 15 staff and thousands of volunteers and partners help the country-music philanthropist deliver books to kids around the world.

128190478285

Nathan Murphy @nathanmurphy.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

What in the TARDIS do I just see?

010

Reposted by Nathan Murphy

Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Lemme use this moment to note I have written two popular science books on quirky subjects, falling cats and invisibility!

Cover of Falling Felines and Fundamental Physics, by Gregory J. Gbur

Cover of Invisibility, by Gregory J. Gbur

413336